You can’t make this stuff up.
For the eighth time since 2022, the Twins lost in walk-off fashion to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday to drop three of four games in the series. They fall to 13-19 on the season with three games at Boston this weekend. None of this is good because the Twins are 4-13 on the road.
And to think they beat the Guards 11-1 on Monday.
None of that run-scoring was evident on Thursday, despite the 13 hits they collected as a team, which was twice as many as Cleveland. It’s been a recurring problem for these Twins. They can get on base and then they go nowhere because the club was 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. The score never should have been that close. Instead, it was a 4-3, bottom-of-the-10th inning win for the Guards.
Joe Ryan gets the ball Friday.
Extra innings…
–If you didn’t think the season was unraveling for the Twins before, it is now. The Twins are seven games back of the division-leading Detroit Tigers, who improved to 20-12 on Thursday. Two teams going in opposite directions.
–Starter Simeon Woods Richardson didn’t record a decision in Thursday’s game, but that doesn’t mean he pitched well. SWR struggled with his command, walking five batters in four-plus innings. Of his 98 pitches, only 58 landed for strikes.
–Reliever Justin Topa was tagged with the loss and blown save in the 10th inning.
–Ty France and Harrison Bader had six of the Twins’ 13 hits.
–Does the season get any easier for the Twins in May? Not really. They face an improved Red Sox team this weekend, then they come home to play a struggling Orioles team but a pretty good Giants club. Then the Twins hit the road again, visiting Baltimore and Milwaukee, and return home to take on the Guards, Royals and Rays.
–The Twins have got to get healthy. Players like Kody Clemens and Jonah Bride just aren’t going to cut it.